Last month, here in the wild of Canada (as I lovingly like to refer to just about everywhere that isn't a major city), the country celebrated Thanksgiving. Our canuck take on the event is extremely similar to that of our US neighbours and involves oodles of delicious eats, family get-togethers, pumpkin filled decor, and time spent reflecting on the blessings in our lives.

This particular Thanksgiving was immensely important to me because it was the first time that Tony and I had been able to spend it with my some of my relatives (as, prior to this, we'd been living thousands of miles apart). The small group that gathered that evening at my parents house to share a meal that my mom and I each prepared dishes for (I brought the gluten-free stuffing and dessert, plus the black olives and gherkins - both "musts" for me at any Thanksgiving spread), consisted of Tony and I, my mom and step-dad, and my sister (plus, her ultra cute dog, Beau, who you may recall from this post last summer).

Though our numbers were small, the festive spirit we all shared that night was huge and there wasn't anything lacking, be it a second helping of spuds and gravy or a warm smile from whomever was sitting across from you at the table (which you can see in the photo below - decorated by my wonderful mom).

I've always loved dressing up for the holidays and knew that I wanted to wear something extra special for this joyous celebration. I gave my choice a lot of thought, but even on the day itself, I still wasn't sure and tried on about six other dresses in my closet before settling on this beloved vintage dusty peach lace frock. The colour seemed so well suited to the palette of fall, the waist on it isn't very tight at all (so I knew there's be no risk of feeling uncomfortable after a big meal), and the aged lace seemed to speak for the timeless beauty of Thanksgiving itself.

Though I adore lace madly, it really struck me that particular day how very little of it I have in my closet at the moment, which makes this dress all the more important to me. I wanted the emphasis of the outfit to be on the frock itself, but as it wasn't an overly warm day, vintage ruched gloves, a much loved grey shrug, and a necklace that I made earlier this year helped round out the ensemble.

My enthusiasm for donning fancier threads come holiday time is shared by Tony as well, who looked mighty sharp in his dark grey blazer, black shirt, and handsome grey and black stripped tie (my sis snapped the photo here of me and Tony with Tony's camera). I loved that though we didn't set out to match our outfits, the grey in both helped them to coordinate so nicely.

I can honestly say that this was one of the most serenely relaxing, wonderful Thanksgivings I've ever celebrated, and it's a day that will standout as one of the nicest of the whole year for me.

I hope that as my lovely readers in the States gear up for your own celebration later this week, you each have an equally marvelous Thanksgiving, and that life always gives you more blessings and reasons to be thankful than you can possibly count.

Thank you very much, sweet dear. I'd be happy to share my recipe for GF stuffing (it's just one I made up off the top of my head the first holiday season after having to go gluten-free). I'll make a big note in my upcoming blogging post schedule to share it here as we head towards Christmas. If you'd like it sooner, just zip me an email anytime.

Hi again hon, I just wanted to follow up and let you know that I'm planning on posting my GF stuffing (which, I should mention is also egg-free, as a I have an egg allergy, and which can also be made vegetarian or vegan with just one or two alterations) on Saturday December 15th. Even if that dates changes for some reason before then, this recipe will definitely go up next month.

What a stunning dress, and you look utterly gorgeous in it. I cannot begin to express how perfectly it suits you, it looks as if it was made for you. I love all of your accessories too. A really special dress for a special occasion. It is really great to see Tony dresses up too; the picture of the two of you is lovely.

Wow, that dress is so pretty! I am a huge fan of lace overlay, it's so elegant. I also love your necklace, Czech glass is the best(I'm not just saying that because I am Czech, haha)! My husband and I always dress up for holidays, even when it's just the two of us (which for Christmas, we prefer) but that's common from where my family comes from!

Thank you very much, sweet gal. I adore Czech glass, too, and have always counted it amongst my favourite jewelry making materials to work with and wear.

It's awesome that you and your husband dress up for the holidays, too, even when it's just the two of you together. For many years Tony and I often celebrated on our own, too, and always made a point of putting on the ritz in the spirit of the holidays then as well.

Oh what a beautiful couple the two of you make! So glad you took a photo together! The lace on that dress is really pretty! I love the color-something you don't see too often. Dressing up for the holidays is fun. I usually direct it towards the kids but I think this yr I will join in the fun too! Ahhh hehe xox

You look very classy. That dress is very pretty. We're driving down to my mom's house for Thanksgiving this week. It'll be our first Thanksgiving without my father and with my husbands family. Last year we celebrated Christmas by ourselves and for the most part it wasn't too bad. I made tamales and we just spent time watching "A Christmas Story". Great movie and great company.

Hi Jessica, I'm fairly new to your blog and I just love it! So nice to find someone else who loves all things vintage. I just have to tell you of all the pics I've seen you post, the peach and the grey are the most complimentary colors I've ever seen on you. You look strikingly beautiful! :)

Hi Alice, thank you very much for your immensely nice compliment and for following my blog, I sincerely appreciate it. Grey is one of my favourite hues as I find it often works better on me than black (especially near my face), and I just love when I get to partner it with other peaceful, soft colours like this sweet aged peach.

How nice!! I knew Canadians also celebrated Thanksgiving, I just forgot you celebrated it before us. This year we're going to have my Aunt's. My dad's sister and her partner for the day and then we're going to the cemetery to see how Dad's marker looks. It's been a roller coaster year and one which I could look back and say it was the worst year I've encountered. However I do have so much to be thankful for. I'm so blessed and that does make me happy!

Dear Sean, I'm truly sorry that you and your family have been through such an immensely trying, difficult, heartbreaking year. I commend your spirit and positive outlook, and hope with all my heart that next year will be the polar opposite of this one for you.

That is such a lovely dress, and the two of you look positively adorable. :) Thanksgiving in my family comes together in such a mad rush that we're probably lucky if we don't look like a bunch of traveling hobos from an old-fashioned movie. The words total disarray come to mind, hahaha.

I was always jealous of that people in US and Canada celebrate Thanksgiving because I think it's really great holiday. I think Thanksgiving should be celebrated all over the world, cuz we all have things to be thankful for! And it would be a great occasion to cook a lot of pumpkin filled food - I love pumpkins! :) And I need to say that your frock is adorable! No, wait - it's A-DO-RA-BLE!!! So elegant and classy!I'm happy you had great Thanksgiving :)

Thank you very, very much, dear Monika, that's such an awesomely nice way of your to describe my outfit here.

I completely agree! There's no reason why the whole world shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving. I think that doing so might even help foster a great sense of world peace, and certainly could be a way for all of us to come together in the spirit of thankfulness and reflect on just how many blessings we have in our lives, no matter what corner of the globe we hail from.

What a touchingly lovely observation and compliment. Thank you very, very much. We're definitely two peas in a pod in many ways, so it's surprising that we've come to mirror each other's smiles after 8.5 amazing years of knowing one another.

Thank you again, my friend, I'm off to share your lovely comment with Tony right now.

The dress is beautiful!! I agree...a special holiday calls for a special (and incredibly lovely!) dress.

Since we live far from family and miss the days of spending holidays with them, I know from my own experience just how special it was for you and Tony to be with family this year. I am rejoicing with you that you are living close to your loved ones. And speaking of loved ones, I loved having the opportunity to see you and your darling Tony. What a beautiful couple y'all are!!

And speaking of beautiful...as I've said before, you are very photogenic. And I have to tell you one thing that always appeals to me in your photos. You have the knack (talent, whatever) of smiling without showing your teeth. I have never learned how to do that, so my smiles are always those big toothy, cheesy smiles. I would like to learn to smile like you do.

Thank you very much for your absolutely lovely comment, dear Patti. I'm so happy that (after months of talking about him through our emails) you finally get to see Tony (he's appeared here once or twice before, too, but as he's usually the one behind the lens, not as often as I do).

It's really interesting that you mention that point about how I smile with my mouth closed. Unfortunately, for me it's a something of a matter of necessity, as I have really bad teeth that were not corrected at all as a child (something that I've only really delved into once here on CV in this post: http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/2012/07/in-which-i-hold-my-first-guinea-pig-ever.html). I hope dearly to have the means to do so one day, but so far it's not been even remotely possible for me yet as an adult (quotes I've gotten have always placed the dental worked needed in the five figure range). I adore smiling, and wish I could show my teeth, but I'm so, so incredibly uncomfortable with them, so I won't (intentionally) do so in pictures. I'd happily swap smiles with you for a while, if such a thing were possible :)

Thank you very much, my dear. I'd not encountered one quite like this before either, so when I saw it at a consignment store (while out shopping on my birthday with my mom), I just had to nab it (for, if I recall correctly, all of about $2.00).

I wish we would have Thanksgiving too in Germany! I really enjoy reading all the thanksgiving posts these last days ;-) Your dress is so fabulous, I'm always a bit hesitating about ordering at etsy (aka from another continetn), because you have to be careful about how much the shipping is and sometimes there's an import tax to pay, but I really love you dress, I have to look at this etsy store! Thanks for the link! And I'm impressed how wonderful your hair looks, I wish I would be more talented with arranging my hair ;-)

Yay!!! That's awesome, dear gal! I'm thrilled for you and am sure you must feel like a giant weight has been lifted from your shoulders. I just know you're going to be one of the most beautiful (and fashionably attired) brides ever.

Love your dress.Love your glasses - in fact I have noticed them before.Love how your hair and lipstick matches.Love how your purse matches your dress.You look like a dream. :)Love the porcelain Jack'o'Lantern on the table - is it vintage?

In Denmark we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but we have something much similar, Saint Martin's Day, which is on 10 November . We get together with family and friends and eat a lot of roasted duck. I love vintage traditions. And I wore my new vintage circle skirt with a vintage petticoat under, and I felt so good about it.

No, though it looks the part, that little ceramic jack-o-lantern isn't vintage. It was a gift from my parents several years ago, and it now kind of spends time living at either my mom's house or mine, just depending on who's decorating for what get-together throughout the autumn holiday season.

It is a shame that you don't have Thanksgiving Day in Denmark - the whole world should celebrate it, if you ask me. Perhaps one day that will come to be. I've heard of St. Martin's Day before (when I was living in Ireland), but can't say as though I've yet celebrated it. I adore holidays from around the world, and would certainly enjoy getting the chance to do so one year. Perhaps we could swap one Thanksgiving for one St. Martin's Day? :)

Yay! This is the first time I have seen your wonderful husband. You both look handsome! I love this peach dress. The flexible waistline is an aspect that I look for when I picked my own Thanksgiving dress. I love the bag, too!

You're welcome, dear. I also love holidays and traditions, and in fact we have started celebrating Halloween. Not many Danes celebrate Halloween, but in 2001 son and I decided that if it didn't cost anything, then we could do it. So we sat for a week cutting and gluing, very cosy. You can see our Halloween decoration here:http://samati.dk/bubily/halloween_uk.htmNow it is a tradition and we love it. We were really first movers. :)

Did you purposely save this delightful post to display on the week of our Thanksgiving Day, or was it a fluke.

How lovely you do look! I always like it when my husband and I find that we match; it adds to the specialness of the occasion. What a dreamy dress! I think it is fun that you have such a collection of vintage dresses. Only in my dreams (and, yes, I literally dream this dream) do I look into my closet and have the experience of finding a selection of exquisite choices.

I am so happy for you that you were able to spend Thanksgiving Day with your family and that it was the best Thanksgiving ever.

Hi sweet Hope, thank you very much for your deeply lovely comment (I'm sure there are plenty of beautiful pieces in your closet, too). Yes ma'am, I did indeed save these outfit snaps to post about for US Thanksgiving. I plan the bulk of my posts out anywhere from two to eight weeks in advance, writing them as the dates they're destined for draw nearer, and made sure to save this one to celebrate Thanksgiving with all my fantastic US friends this week.

Ooh, that purse is fabulous! I love how your gloves look with the sparkly bracelets over it, too. You look divine. And I love the photo of you and Tony together! So nice when we get to see people's sweethearts (a husband is still a sweetheart in my book). :) His tie and your shrug play so nicely off one another.

We're gearing up for Thanksgiving here. Glad to hear yours was lovely!

Thank you very much, dear Kim. I've been sharing all the wonderfully nice compliments for Tony that have been coming in on this post, and will greet him with yours first thing in the morning (he's hit the hay already tonight).

My favorite part of this outfit has to be, apart from that lovely peachy lace dress, the necklace that you MADE!!! :O I just love it. Especially that little cameo-ish accent at the center of it... so pretty. And I love the way you paired the grey shrug with the dress. The colors go together so well.

Your outfit is divinely perfect for fall! I love your dress. The muted peach is perfect for Thanksgiving celebration, and the fact that it's lace makes it extra festive. :) I adore those gloves too. What a special day for you, and i'm glad you could be with family. And P.S. , you and Tony sure made a beautiful couple!

Thank you very much, sweet Hannah. Indeed, we have Thanksgiving just like the fine folks in the US, however it's held on the second Monday in October, not the third Thursday in November. Much like American Thanksgiving, its roots stretch back hundreds of years to some of the first settlers of our country.

I hope you and your loved ones have a deeply beautiful Thanksgiving,♥ Jessica

You look beautiful Jessica. When the first photo popped up on my Google reader I just thought wow. Maybe it's the shade of the dress or the lovely light but you look radiant. So glad you had a lovely celebration. I don't think it is about the number of people so much as the people themselves that matters. I must admit all the great Thanksgiving posts doing the rounds at the moment make me wish we did it here in Australia. Not that you need a single day to be Thankful. I try and think of something each day to be thankful for. Can be hard some days but if I try hard enough there's always something. PS love the photo of the 2 of you at the end. Just lovely. Michelle xx

Awww, you two look very sweet together:) I'm so happy for you that you are able to have holidays with your family. I bet now that you are with your family it makes it all the more sweeter and more appreciative. Thanksgiving Greetings to you:)) I can just imagine the turkey on your table. I can't wait for Thursday and I'm awful glad it's not me doing all the cooking:) Since there are only four of us we have a tradition of going to this nice place near by. It's funny when we see big families also there as I bet no one wanted to cook. lol.

This dress is outstanding, fits you perfect, colour is perfect! Love times thousand. In fact I love everything you wear on your blog :) I so wish that when you lived in Toronto that we had met because my girlfriend and I love reading your blog and would of loved to have sat down with you for an afternoon and chatted vintage. BUT we have your blog and that works perfect as well :) Happy thanksgiving!

Thank you very, very much for your wonderfully nice comment. I wish we would have had a chance to meet up, too. Though of course there were others, I never actually got a chance to meet other vintage lovers while living in Toronto, which was largely due to the fact that my health so often keeps me from being well enough to leave the house (and we lived in Markham, then North York, and didn't have a car, so traveling even downtown was often tricky for me due to my health). Now I live in a cute little town in B.C. and have yet to find another mid-century wearing lass (or lad) anywhere around these parts. If I ever happen to be in TO again, we'll definitely have to try and meet up.

That colour is just perfection with your skin! I have a fondness for dusty rose lace dresses. I have three in my collection. Glad to hear you had a lovely Thanksgiving! I ate more turkey and gravy than one human being should be physically able to! lol!

I'm so glad you had a beautiful Thanskgiving...as the years roll by (I'm a few years older than you) these are the days that come back to you and upon which you will look back with the warmest of feelings. You looked very lovely in you soft silver and warm pink outfit, the colours compliment your skin and hair so well...Your dress is perfection, lace always looks so elegant! xx Shauna

Thank you all so very, very much for your immensely lovely comments on this Thanksgiving outfit post. I shared all those that mentioned him with Tony, too, and he sends his appreciation your way as well.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you each a gorgeous, serenely wonderful Thanksgiving and start of the winter holiday season.

Thank you very much, sweet dear. This shade is quite dark indeed. It's the darkest lipstick I believe I currently have in my make-up case, but I soften it a bit by first lining (and filling in) my lips with a soft dusty rose hued liner, then one lightly applied coat of Diva, which I blot a couple of times. The end result is what you see here (these snaps were taken about thirty minutes after I applied my lipstick, so it was really fresh and shows how that method looks on me).

I'm Jessica, a lifelong lover of all things antique and vintage, especially those from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

This blog is my visual scrapbook in which I record and share my thoughts on the multitude of sources, people and products that inspire and feed a modern gal's addiction to the past. I also post about the vintage clothes, hairstyles and make-up looks that I adore wearing.

Stay a spell and have a blast as we explore the incomparably fantastic world of vintage history and fashion together.

All images used on this site are credited to their original posters/creators/sources,
however if at any time you would prefer not to see one of your images here, please email me and I'll take it down right away.

PS...I just wanted to say thank you very much for visiting and to tell you that you're equal parts awesome and beautiful.